East Cork Junior C Hurling Championship
Carraig na bhFear 3-17, Fr O’Neills 1-09
Castleyons, August 26th 2018
15 souls wore the famed red and green colours last Sunday morning and produced a performance of honesty and skill that balmed some of the wounds from the previous nights Championship loss. This was the first round of the Junior C Hurling Championship, a competition in which the winning in trophy is in honour of a former club member who quite often demonstrated those qualities of honesty and skill in former days, namely Micheál O Foghlu. And on assessment of this performance, there is a good possibility that the cup may rest on the banks of the Glashaboy River for the first time ever.
Carraig took a while to settle into this game, as did Fr. O Neills, with a difficult cross field wind making it hard for forwards to adjust their radar. However, with Con Burns i mbarr a reime ar an daichead line, do chuaigh Carraig chun tosaigh go tapaidh. Points from Burns, Peter O’Sullivan and Conor Hayes, followed by a fortuitous goal by Burns had Carraig 1-04 to 0-02 ahead after 13 minutes. O Neills replied with a goal of their own, but it only spurred Carraig on. A dominant half back line of Neally, Aherne and Cronin, ably assisted by a solid midfield partnership of Hayes and Jack Aherne kept a constant supply of ball ag dul I dtreo na tosaithe. More points from Thomas Coleman, Brian Sheehan and Cormac Hill kept Carraig in the ascendency and a further boost was received when Peter O’Sullivan scored a second goal for Carraig. Half time score as 2-08 to 1-03.
With the onset of the second half, Carraig were in no mood to let things sit. There was a really good attitude about this display which meant that O Neills were never given a hint of a chance of making a comeback. Brian Sheehan, Burns and Conor Hayes hit some neat points and a further major was added by Sheehan. As Carraig took a commanding 11 point lead halfway through the half, a noticeable drop in energy levels became evident. However, Carraig were determined that no goal was to be conceded and a full back line of Tomás Sheehan, Stephen Casey and Colm Cooney were dogged and resilient in repelling any dangerous attacks by O Neills. As the clock ticked down, Carraig sat deep and hit on the counter and could have added more goals only for some good saves from the O Neills keeper. And thus Niall Barrett blew the long whistle and those 15 souls from Carraig put a small smile back on the face of club members who know that all great journeys start with a small step.
An Foireann:
B Casey,
T Sheehan, S Casey, C Cooney,
T Neally, M Aherne, C Cronin,
C Hayes, J Aherne,
C Hill, C Burns, N Pike,
T Coleman, P O’ Sullivan, B Sheehan.